PPP surveyed 400 usual Wisconsin Republican primary voters from December 10th to 12th. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.

Not to underestimate her power in the party but Republicans that are worried about Palin being the nominee really ought to calm down. We know how long the power of the frontrunner lasts when the primaries roll around. If Palin is so beloved, she shouldn't be leading in these states by just a few points to someone who isn't even sure about running and is hardly ever in the news.

A plurality in a heavily divided field does not make someone the front-runner. Palin isn't the front-runner, she's just a major factor who has a lot of support and a low ceiling. I just don't know what her path to victory is, but I do know if she runs she could win some caucuses and make life hell unless Republican turnout is high enough to drown out her supporters.

That's one poll Branson. We'll see what other polls show about the matchup.

I'm more interested about the matchup Poundingtherock vs. Reality.

Good one!

Reality is that Sarah Palin is nuts! She is intellectually dishonest and disorganized. Anyone who can contradict oneself between the independent clause and the dependent clause of a complex sentence so often as Sarah Palin does has no command of the logic necessary for making decisions. She would be unable to discern good advice from bad advice and could conceivably resort to coin tosses on issues of the day.

Reality in a Barack Obama - Sarah Palin matchup would be about a 45-state landslide for President Obama... and I am not going to defame any states by predicting which ones go for her. That's with President Obama pulling his punches or staying aloof from the fray.

If you are a Republican who cares about House and Senate races, then Sarah Palin's coat-tails will drag fellow Republicans into the political quicksand. Democratic candidates will surely associate any Republican with her.

Look -- James DeMint would do better than she, and I think that he is one of the worst in the Senate.

Explain how she doesn't win these two states easily once Huckabee bows out? The reason why it's pretty clear she's in the lead is because she's leading with Huckabee in the race.

McCain won his primary easily by getting between 33-37% in states. There's no reason to believe she wouldn't surpass McCain's numbers with Huckabee (or even Ron Paul) out of the race.

The mantra that what she gets now is all that she's going to get is pretty unsupported since Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich are all very well known themselves.

McCain won because he was the default candidate after everyone else had been defeated or rejected, ending with Romney. It's such a different situation.

I just have a hard time seeing Palin get through to the end because there is surely a majority of Republican voters who are "anyone but Palin" and the party establishment is almost uniformly opposed to her. They will find a way to stop her unless they are helplessly divided.